Who Wrote the Bible?

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Summary: Excellent but title is misleading
Review: This excellent book focuses exclusively on who wrote the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Pentateuch or Torah. The title is thus unnecessarily misleading and an explanatory subtitle would have been a simple fix. Such a fix would not compromise sales and would nullify any suspicions that the misleading is partially intended for lucrative purposes. The author's aim is to synthesize his and related research, to give an overview for experts, and to make the topic accessible for a wide audience. The aims are amply achieved, the author is clearly competent, and his writing is a pleasure to read. For me as an amateur novice, it was tantalizing to be lead through some chapters like a whodunit, and surprising to see how advances continue steadily in the field. As a non-expert I got the feeling that the research has matured beyond simply dissecting fragments and has moved towards constructive synthesis. Presumably, this book can be taken more seriously than the many, many books on this or related topics by authors who have no serious credentials. The topic is obviously important for all people of the Western and Middle Easter world, including agnostics like me, because the Bible has defined much of who we are and the first five books are seminal. Yes, most people will say to themselves that only the contents are important, but by understanding the history of how the contents came about, one can get MUCH better understanding of the contents. The second edition includes significant changes and a substantial new preface.

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Summary: A fascinating detective story
Review: Richard Friedman synthesizes hundreds of years of critical biblical scholarship and presents it in the crisp style of a can't-put-it-down detective story. He presents fascinating--but technical--information in a compulsively readable, non-technical format. This book is the definitive starting point for any lay person interested in how the first five books of the Bible were put together.

The real history of these books may be more complex than what is presented here, but Dr. Friedman presents a strong case in support of general authorship by the usual suspects of critical biblical scholarship--slippery individuals known primarily by their aliases: J, E, D, P, and R.

My only complaint is with the name, "Who Wrote the Bible?" This name suggests that authorship of the entire Bible will be assessed. Instead, however, the inquiry focuses exclusively on the first five books of the Old Testament (known as the Torah or Pentatuch). The book does not address the authorship of the other books of the Old Testament or of any of the books of the New Testament. Even so, it's a great read.

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Summary: Along with Burton Mack "Who wrote the NT"
Review: I use this excellent and manageable text along with Burton Mack's treatment of the NT as handy sources to review prior to discussions on Biblical topics. This book in particular was recommended to me by a colleague after my "Book of J" disappeared during a class. (It took a while before I got another copy). My colleague recommended this as a better book and in many respects I agree with her. I still like the poetry in "The Book of J" but the analysis by Friedman is excellent and easily led me on to his other books.

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Summary: Fascinating!
Review: Richard Elliot Friedman's "Who Wrote the Bible?" is a fascinating, page-turing account that offers a satisfying answer to the question of who wrote the The Five Books of Moses. For years, Friedman writes, it was believed that Moses had authored the first five books of the Bible. This theory had difficulty enduring due to several factors, including the fact that the books had many contradictions in language and story. Then there was the not insignificant fact that Moses had written of his own death (explained by theologians as a prophetic vision of the future).

It is interesting to note that church leaders had no problem accepting that the Four Gospels had different authors, but yet were resistant to the alternative theory about the Pentatuch's authorship. Friedman answers this contradiction by the rather obvious explanation that the Church was reluctant to have any changes or alterations made to their existing theory. Since the Moses myth had endured for hundreds of years, they were reluctant to part with it.

Friedman starts the book with a succinct, and fascinating, account of the history of Semitic people in the Middle East between the years 1200-722 BC. He then begins to offer proof about who actually wrote the Five Books of Moses. He takes the reader through a fascinating breakdown of the language contradictions in certain part of the Bible, and supplies support for these contradictions by pointing to four different source materials that were used to make up the OT. With this theory in place (helped by an excellent index identifier for which sources supplied which story, or part of a story) he ably makes the case for the Documentary Theory of authorship. The Five Books of Moses are made up of parts of four different manuscripts, written by different sources, and pieced together by a later editor.

"Who Wrote the Bible?" is fasinating -- intelligent, well written, and, above all, well supported by logic and source materials.

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Summary: The best book on the Hebrew Bible
Review: If you want to learn all about the fascinating Old Testament scholarship of the 20th century, you can either spend a few years in divinity school or read this book. Of course, reading the book is a whole lot cheaper. =)

Actually, Friedman does not discuss the entire Old Testament, but only the first five books (the Torah, or Pentateuch), which are traditionally held to have been written by Moses. He outlines how modern scholarship has in fact identified several different authors, usually referred to as the Yahwist, Elohist, Priestly and Deuteronomist sources, as well as a final Redactor or editor. Brilliant stuff, and Friedman makes it read like the greatest bit of historical detective work ever.

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Summary: Well Written and Easily Explained
Review: As a lay person I had absolutely no problems whatsover following Friedman's writing. It was clear and stated easily, and frankly a joy to read.

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Summary: Pure Greatness
Review: The Christian Church originally believed the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses. Through the centuries, a few people were unconvinced that Moses wrote every single word (such as the account of his death). All were called heretics. Only in the past hundred years or so has the idea of multiple authors gained wide acceptance. That idea is called the Documentary Hypothesis, and in "Who Wrote the Bible", Richard Elliot Friedman turns it into one of the greatest historical mysteries of all time.

Written as a whodunit with suspense on every page, Friedman paints a picture of an ancient civilation racked by inner turmoil and bitterness between rival factions. We see the anger and betrayal, and then the indescribable grief when the nation finally fell. And the one man who sought to heal these wounds creating the most influential book in history. Who was this man? I wouldn't dream of telling you because it would deprive you of the thrill of reading one of the most entertaining non-fiction books ever written. If you are at all curious about the history of the Old Testament, you will love this book.

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Summary: Good Book About the "Good Book," and a Recommendation
Review: Friedman's "Who Wrote the Bible?" is a good book that explores the documentary hypothesis quite well. It is easy to read and interesting. However, a more compelling and convincing argument about the authorship of the first book of the Bible can be found in "The Genius of Genesis" by Dennis Shulman. Read both of these books if you want a more balanced perspective on the questions Richard Friedman and the modern biblical scholars raise.

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Summary: Good
Review: Plot spoiler warning, it was Ezra and Jeremiah.

In reality however the book is not so much about who wrote the bible but the process by which we understand how it was written. Friedman is an academic who has studied the bible for years. This book is a clearly written outline of current thinking about the origin and strucutre of the bible. Probably most of the material in the book is available in dull long academc tones. This book however reduces all that to an easy to understand yet learned exposition in some 240 pages.

Briefly in one examines the first five books of the bible it is possible to note certain duplications of stories. This suggests that two accounts of similiar events has been synthasised together. In addition the two accounts seem to have two different names for God. One uses the term Elohim which simply means God and the other uses Jehovah, something which applies to what became the Jewish God.

Using largely textual and historical anaylsis Friedman suggests that what has happened is that after the splitting of the Davidic kingdom into Israel and Judah two priestly traditions probably oral emerged. These varied slightly as the systems of worship and political strucutre varied somewhat. Moses was a hero to the north, Aaron was the ancesotor of the Judian priestly class.

Deuteronomy appears to have been written in the reign of the King Josiah. This is based on the rather slavish praise given to him despite his mediocraty as a monarch. This would place it around 587 BC.

However rather than there being a bible at this point there would have been two versions of the first four books of the bible and Dueteronomy. Again using a textual anaylsis it would seem that there existed a further book which was of priestly origin. It was concerned largely with rules and laws and a more limited history.

Friedman suggests that these books were edited to form a continous narrative by Ezra the priest who was given power to rule over Judea by Cyrus the great after the conquest of Babylon by the Persians. Historical records suggest that Ezra took with him the Torah from Babylon to Judea. This would place the date of writing as about 539 BCE.

Regardless of whether Friedman is right or wrong the book is a fascinating summary of hundreds of years of textual and historical anaylasis of the bible.

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Summary: No longer confused.
Review: Having read many religious books in an attempt to further my understanding about conflicts between peoples of different beliefs (after 911), I found myself going full circle and reading the Old Testament. After finding obvious conflicts and confusing areas, I found the book, "Who Wrote the Bible". What a wonderful discovery it turned out to be. The author does a great job of explaining all the conflicting and confusing information in the Old Testament. Coupled with other religious texts, I feel I now have a clear understanding of why people will go to very extreme measures to further or protect their cause and/or religion.